Ooooh… so jefbot’s leveled up and is now sporting some glowy green eyes! But what does this mean!? And what is he ready for!? Will he now tell the Cornfather about his new, yarn-born appendages? More questions and answers to come as the storyline continues this Friday!

Nope, it’s not a dream, the Angry Scarf has become sentient and attacked jefbot! AIEEEEE!!! This story has been a long time coming, as the origins of the scarf go way back to the second JEFbot strip from 2007, when Warrior Sister Xinda gave it to jefbot as a gift. This strip is the start of a major storyline, and I have a lot of exciting stuff planned for it that will, yes, change the very fabric (heh. couldn’t resist) of the JEFbot Universe FOREVER!!! Or, at the very least, there will be some fun scarf action. Hope you come along for the ride on this EPIC YARN! (Again, couldn’t resist. Sorry.)

If you’re new to the strip, or need a refresher course on the scarf’s strange past, tab these strips out:
• The Angry Scarf
• Origin Story
• It Lives

And speaking of origins, tomorrow, August 6th, will mark the 4 Year Anniversary of JEFbot! ALSO… you might just want to check in on Monday, as I’m contemplating going to three strips a week (MWF) for the rest of this anniversary month! It’s not set in stone, so I’ll confirm or deny that later. Stay tuned!

This isn’t the first time jefbot’s been punished for early adopting (see JEFBOT.44) and it certainly won’t be the last. It’s the dilemma of many a videogame, DVD/Blu-ray, console, computer, tech and gadget buyer (read: geek) that whatever you buy is most often going to depreciate in value as soon as you buy it. In this case, with the 3DS, Nintendo slashed its price way faster than any console (handheld or otherwise) I’ve ever seen. Sales haven’t been great, but I’m surprised at just how panicked the company seems. I suppose they’re trying to get a jump on the install base before the Playstation Vita comes out later this year. To be fair, Nintendo’s giving 20 free games to their “Ambassadors” that bought the 3DS system early, and many of the games are ones I covet, which lessens the sting a bit. Also, the social aspects of the system have pretty much paid for the console itself, as I’ve gotten many new eyes to the JEFbot site and bodies to the JEFbot booth, most recently at the Phoenix ComiCon, with the 3DS’s StreetPass function, which lets me pimp the site out to other, nearby 3DS users, so it’s not like I’d get in my DeLorean and go back in time to not buy the system if I had the chance to do so. I like the system, and while it could use some more AAA titles, it looks like many will be coming before the 2011 Holiday season, which is fine with me since I don’t have much time to play much right now. Heck, before the 3D remake of Ocarina of Time came out, the game I played most on my 3DS was last generation’s Pokémon White.

So, if you’re on the fence about buying a 3DS, I’d wait for the price drop in a couple of weeks (unless you’re interested in the 20 free games). Yeah, the 3D is a bit gimmicky, but like most uses of 3D technology, it can sometimes be put to good use (like in the aforementioned Zelda game) and you can always turn off the 3D if you don’t like it and play in 2D instead. With 3DS updates of games like Mario Kart, Super Mario Bros., Luigi’s Mansion and Kid Icarus – not to mention the inevitable 3DS Pokémon – coming out, I’m sure this little system is down but not quite out, yet.

Oh, another cool thing is linking with JEFbot readers via Friend Codes, and I’ve met a bunch of you via this system. Here’s mine  for those who didn’t see it before, or who have recently gotten a 3DS. After you put my friend code in, email me yours and I’ll add it to my console:

JEFBOT FRIEND CODE: 4339-2500-5008

As I’ve been in Hawaii since last Wednesday (blog post here), I haven’t been able to catch the Captain America movie just yet, but it looks fun and promising. Judging from the trailers, it looks much better than I thought it would, actually, so I’m hoping it delivers. Anybody see it? Was it any good? I’m sure I’ll grab my awesome shield and sweet mask when I return home and see the movie, even with all the comic book fatigue happening amongst my friends.

So, yeah – like many things in L.A., all the furor and angst over Carmageddon turned out to be nothing more than hype; they actually got the job done ahead of schedule, and without incident. Most people stayed off the roads which made driving around – to do things like seeing the final Harry Potter in Universal City – faster and easier than on non-Carmaggedon weekends. Of course, after they had re-opened the freeway on Sunday and I drove to work on Monday, none of that mattered, as it was still a slow, slow crawl to the office, just like every workday. *sigh*

Still on vacation in Hawaii, hanging with Mombot and her side of the family over here! Loads of fun and sun, with an update coming soon with pics and stuff. For other updates, check my Twitter or Facebook feeds.

Why, oh why did they decide to close down one of the busiest freeways in L.A. the weekend the final Harry Potter movie comes out!? For those that don’t know – and if you don’t live in L.A., I wouldn’t expect you to – a ten mile stretch of freeway is being closed this weekend so some major construction can be done to tear down (half) a bridge and widen some lanes. While this might have caused some minor alarm in other cities, here, we’re referring to it as Carmageddon. (It’s kind of funny the amount of hysteria that’s been happening over the past month or so, here.) And if you don’t have a Portkey or the ability to Apparate to get to the other side of town over the weekend, well, then you might just feel Stupefied while trapped in your house or car for two days.

Anybody else seeing The Deathly Hallows Part 2 this weekend? Let me know what you think (without spoilers!) if you’re going. If I can make it into Hollywood, I should be seeing it Saturday night. Crossing fingers that the filmmakers ended this one right!